


Way of the Warrior

by Araceil



Category: 1/2 Wangzi | 1/2 Prince, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Action, Adventure, Deathly Hallows AU, Drama, Genderswap, Humour, M/M, OCs - Freeform, Redeemed Dudley Dursley, Romance, Sci-Fi meets Fantasy, Sexism, VRMMO, no betas we die like men, sentient AIs, will add more tags as needed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-08-28 16:09:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16726635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Araceil/pseuds/Araceil
Summary: [Rewrite] To repair the bridges of their broken childhood, Dudley buys his cousin the incredibly popular 'Second Life' virtual reality game for his seventeenth birthday. But magic and technology don't mix very well and the first time Harry uses it, the game glitches, derailing plans, and changing the future.





	1. Character Creation

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, welcome back ladies, germs, neuters, and beyond spectrums. This is the re-rewritten version of Way of the Warrior, I've cleaned up several sections, improved the writing and description, smoothed a few things out, added a few lines here and there. 
> 
> As always, I am new to the AO3 tagging system, feel free to suggest tags if you feel them pertinent to the fic and they're not already up there. 8)

“Harry, can I... uh, have a second?”

Blinking, the seventeen year old looked up from where he was sorting through the piles of parchment he had tipped out from his school bag. The summer had been sticky hot, and stressful for everyone involved, himself most of all. Hence his retreat back to his bedroom, sorting through his school supplies in order to avoid _another_ 'discussion' come argument with his family. Hence why it was so odd that Dudley Dursley would be stood nervously at his bedroom door with a somewhat shifty facial expression. Harry tilted his head to one side straightening up from where he had been arranging parchments into neat piles, was his cousin hiding something behind his back?

Even though he had been expecting his Uncle to storm into his room, changing his mind for the umpteenth time that day alone, this was the first time Dudley had approached him since the summer of his fifth year after the Dementor incident. The irregularity alone was enough for Harry to put his notes on a useful little charm down on the review pile and turn his full attention to the blond, gesturing to him to start talking.

“Sure,” he agreed, mentally wondering if this was going to be an interrogation or a confession of hatred and gratitude in equal measures. Dudley had changed somewhat since the Dementor incident, but Harry hadn't had a chance to talk to him about that or even since then to see just how deeply that change went. He had been leaving cups of tea outside his room, but given the number of times Harry ended up stepping on them, he wasn't sure if it had been a prank or a genuine gesture of awkward and uncertain reconciliation. Neither of them really knew how to talk to each other, and Dudley was terrible with apologies as well. Either way, his cousin had become quieter, more thoughtful, and Harry could swear that the blond's eyes lingered on him more than once as he went about his business last summer. The curious thing was that there was no hostility at all in those looks, just contemplation, wariness, and confusion in equal measures.

Dudley shuffled in, and nudged the door part-way closed. Enough that they would have privacy, but not shut so as to arouse his parents' suspicion. Ahh, he must not want Aunt Petunia or Uncle Vernon to know they were talking then. Interesting.

Harry sat down on his bed, “What's up, Dudley?” he asked when it became apparent that the other male was too nervous, or uncertain, to start the conversation himself.

For a moment, the blond visibly struggled with himself before he finally thrust a small clumsily wrapped package towards him in one meaty pink shovel sized hand. Harry blinked in utter bemusement as he stared at the red, gold and green patterned wrapping paper – left overs from Petunia's Christmas roll, he could tell because the colours matched the tinsel and baubles she'd decorated the tree with for the last twenty years.

“I... never got you a Birthday present. Ever,” Dudley finally said, studiously not looking at his cousin as he wiggled the wrapped present forward, hand trembling ever so slightly. “I even... when Mrs McQuay got everyone that little notebook in Year Five, you were so happy so I... I kicked it in dog shit just so you couldn't have it. That... that was harsh and unfair and you'd never even _had_ a proper present before so...” His voice seemed to die again as he finally seemed to realise his cousin wasn't going to be taking the package so tossed it carefully onto the bed beside him. “My user ID is ' _Broken Fist_ ', give me a PM and... we'll, I'll...” he came to a stumbling halt still wrestling with himself. “If you want, that is, I'll give you a hand. You've probably.... probably never played any games. Not the good ones like ' _Second Life_ ',” he admitted quietly, finally looking away from the lone hand knitted sock of green and gold winged balls discarded on the floor.

Someone had gone to the effort of hand-knitting a pair of socks for his cousin.

His cousin who had saved him without a second thought even after he'd punched him in the face, even after everything Dudley had done to him throughout their lives. His cousin, who he would have abandoned without hesitation had their roles been reversed.

Dudley didn't give the Gryffindor a chance to respond before he fled the room, red faced, guilty, and yet relieved. Even pleased with himself. As soon as his cousin's door closed behind him, he couldn't stop the small smile that split his face. He hoped Harry did PM him when he finally got himself registered. It would be nice, Dudley decided, he had never been allowed to know his cousin, not properly.

He looked forward to meeting Harry for the first time.

 

* * *

 

The next time Harry even looked at the package was while he was rummaging in his trunk for pyjamas, still feeling devastated, raw, and jittery by the events of the last forty-eight hours.

The escape from Privet Drive, from the waiting Death Eaters, Hedwig – his beloved Hedwig dying in a flash of damnable green light (was that green light going to steal the lives of everyone precious to him, he couldn't help but wonder?), Moody's disappearance, George's injury, his wand moving all by itself, finding out about Ollivander's abduction... He was still half expecting to have Moody stump his way through the door and start complaining about how everyone thought he was just going to roll over and die without putting up a fight, never! CONSTANT VIGILANCE!

His lips twitched slightly as he dragged out a set of Dudley's less horrible hand-me-down shirts, plain rather washed out red with green and gold spots. This was the set that he'd had when he was eleven, they still fit, depressingly enough. Being a midget was getting old but it looked like it was going to be something Harry would have to live with. At almost seventeen, he certainly had only grown three inches in the last two years, going from a depressing 4'11” at fifteen, to an equally depressing 5'2” at seventeen.

He paused, staring at the clothes in his hands as something niggled at the back of his mind. Now what was it.... he frowned, wondering just what they reminded him off. It was only when he dropped them onto the bed that the light-bulb went off at the sight of the crumpled fabric. Dudley's crumpled present.

Well, there was no time like now to find out what his cousin had been talking about, and he needed something, anything, to get his mind off what had happened earlier that day.

Digging out his messenger big, he flipped it open, and pulled out the clumsily wrapped present, turning it over in his hands and just wondering what on earth his cousin had gotten him. It felt moderately weighty but not quite evenly distributed, the ends of the rather long package felt heavier than the middle section, shoddy wrapping job aside. Actually curious now, Harry picked at the mangled sellotape holding the package shut before giving up and just tearing into the paper. Wrapping was evidentially not one of Dudley's few appreciable skills.

A box with a large white ' **Dreams Gaming Device** ' emblazoned on the front with what looked to be some Chinese characters, and a smaller subheading announcing that it was Version two-point-five, now featuring an inbuilt power-pack for mobile gaming. Just below the text to the right was a small section that pictured a game case of ' _Second Life_ ', proclaiming that it came free with the device. He turned the box over in his hands, reading the text written on the side curiously.

“ _Step into a virtual world with Dreams Gaming Device. With our smart REM linking technology let your mind fly free, and adventure while your body sleeps, and rests ready for the day tomorrow! Instructions inside along with a free starter pack of '_ Second Life _', the most popular online virtual MMO to come out of China since '_ The World _' and the ever classic '_ Life _'.”_

What followed was a list of sponsors, and how to get into contact with Customer Services and Tech-Support should there be any problems. Only downside of that was there would probably be no opportunity for Harry to ever contact their Tech-Support or Customer Services.

So... Dudley got him a Virtual Reality Gaming headset and game? That was actually pretty cool. And expensive if he recalled the prices of such things correctly – about half that of a good quality Cleansweep if he converted to Galleons.

Opening the box, he removed the instructions and set them to one side before carefully lifting the headpiece out via the polystyrene blocks around the ear-cups. It honestly looked like something out of those old fashioned Sci Fi shows that Uncle Vernon liked to watch on the weekends. White and grey lined headphones that cupped the entirety of the ear, small ports and what looked like a blue-tooth and WiFi receiver antenna, and an eye-shield made of pale blue coloured plastic. The headphones did indeed feel rather weighty but due to the plastic and the way it was built it did feel strangely light as well, and weirdly _fragile_. He flicked open the instruction sheet on how to use it before exploring the ear-cups to find the slot where he had to put the game cartridges for Second Life – which could be found in a small sealed game case at the bottom of the box behind a small cardboard cut-out. Currently a blank plastic proxy was in the port, he pushed it in a little further, heard a click and then the thing shot half way out. Enough for him to pick it free. He eyed the hole but couldn't see anything circumspect so reached for the game case.

Second Life was exactly what the game-box promised, a chance to live in a fantasy world of magic and monsters, to meet new people, and have fun. He glanced at Ron's bedroom clock and decided it really was time for him to go to bed, pretty soon his friend would be making his way upstairs and, right now, Harry really didn't want to talk to anyone. About anything.

He changed into his pyjamas, and hid the game box under his cot, out of sight, before slotting the cartridge in and sliding it onto his face. Climbing into his bed, he curled up so he was cocooned in the blankets and the headpiece was hidden from view.

He closed his eyes. And felt himself begin to fall.

 

* * *

 

“| **Greetings! Welcome to Second Life!** |” a chirpy female voice resonated in his ears.

Harry twitched a little, his eyes opening and burning at the bright white light around him. He blinked rapidly before turning around to face the young woman behind him. In an endless chequered room, she was sat in an overly large, very technological looking floating chair with a headpiece that had numerous wires and attachments running from it into the device. He eyed her, she was slim in a buxom kind of way with smooth flawless skin and long flowing violet coloured hair, wearing a tight sleeveless PVC miniskirt outfit in white and blue.

Her smile was somewhat plastic, “| **You are our seven million, seven hundred and seventy seventh thousand, seven hundred and seventy seventh player, please wait a moment.... Error, non-standard connection found, calibrating.... Reconnection established…. Apologies for the wait, I will commence the infrared and sound wave scan. From now on, as soon as you put on your game helmet, you can start playing Second Life!** |” the girl explained with such cheerful, chirping happiness that it couldn't have sounded more forced to Harry's ears if she had choked on a Cheering Charm. He flinched as two metal orbs popped into existence and started circling him with red lasers that scanned up and down his body. It took about thirty seconds but he couldn't stop his eyes from watching them warily. “| **Okay, you are now ready to create your character. Before creating the character, I must warn you, you have only one chance to design a character. Once the character creation process is complete, your race, name, and looks cannot be changed. Please start creating your character!** |” the girl chirped as several lights exploded around the seventeen year old revealing several figures.

“| **First, choose the race you like. We have humans, elves, dark elves, celestials, dwarves, beasts – featuring Wolf, Bird, Dog, and Turtle types, and elementals – featuring Boulder, Flower, Grass, Leaf, Tree, Water, and Wind spirits.** |” the girl explained, each of the mentioned species stepping forward and bowing their heads as they were mentioned. “| **Commercial jobs are also a feature of our game. These are: Archer, Bard, Barrier Master, Beast Warrior, Mage, Necromancer, Ninja, Priest, Summoner, Taoist, Thief, Warrior, and Wizard. Please bear in mind that your job class can be restricted by your starting Territory, as some job classes will not be available in certain continents.** |”

Harry hummed, he looked at the figures floating in front of him.

His eyes lingering on the Bird Beastman, on the large wings that gently stroked the air. He had always dreamed of having his own wings to be honest.

“What sort of skills would a Bird Beastman possess? Advantages and disadvantages, that sort of thing,” he asked looking back at the violet haired girl who's smile became a little more natural.

“| **Avian Beastmen possess the unique ability of flight, and the skill advantage Keen Sight, and Hearing depending on the breed of bird you select. However, due to the nature of Avians in general, your character will possess hallow bones, and have decreased stamina, strength, and endurance, but higher agility,** |” the girl explained, leaning forward slightly. He realised then that she was probably an actual person, her mannerisms were no longer so plastic or forced, so she must actually quite enjoy the game itself, but probably dislike having to go through character creation for new players.

He eyed the other species. He had personally always been somewhat physically weak and easy to injure regardless of being a speedy little bugger. Dudley had proved time and again how easily he bruised, and it wasn't like the numerous broken bones and visits to the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts had done anything to disabuse him of the notion that he was squishy and fragile. Perhaps he should attempt something a little more.... durable? Robust?

But still... those wings...

“Is it possible for mixed species?” he questioned, glancing to the young woman. After all, Hagrid was half Giant and seemed to have obtained the best of both worlds, giant strength and endurance, human intelligence and magic, he just had to deal with the idiot human social repercussions. Fleur obtained Veela beauty, human control, and wand magic. Professor Flitwick obtained human magic and friendliness, but Goblin intelligence and battle prowess. If it was possible in real life, would it be possible within the game?

The girl smiled, “| **Please allow me a moment to contact my Superiors. This is an unusual request, and we have not encountered it before. Please wait,** |” she chirped, eyes sliding shut.

While waiting, Harry decided to question the creatures about their advantages and disadvantages, skills and other such things. Thus far, he had come to the conclusion that mixing Elf and Avian would be his best bet. Elves had an agility bonus that meant the mixing wouldn't cause it to suffer but also allow for over all more strength and durability, not to mention increased wisdom if he was understanding the game mechanics correctly (there was a high chance he wasn't, but it made _sense_ , so surely it would?).

“| **My superiors have spoken,** |” the girl chirped, jarring Harry out of his conversation with the Avian and Elven avatars. “| **Second Life policy has never encountered this request and thus there are no rules for or against it. Your request has been approved. Also, as your circumstances are unique, and since you are our very special seven millionth, seven hundred and seventy seven thousandth, seven hundredth and seventy seventh player our superiors will be providing you with a special advanced knack here at character creation. Please finish your character creation before selecting your advanced knack,** |” the girl explained happily as she waggled a finger in his direction, winking at him.

Harry nodded slowly, “Alright, thank you very much miss. I would like to have Elf and Bird Beastman mix please,” he requested watching as the avatars all vanished and his new model appeared.

It looked a fair bit like him, which was to be expected. Short, almost feathered black hair in a smooth attractive face, long pointed ears peeking out from the ebony strands, he was lean and almost willowy with long pure white feathered wings hanging from his back. He stared at the wings and felt a pang of regret. The avatar opened his eyes and revealed the same emerald green gaze Harry saw in the mirror every day.

“Can you make the wings resemble those of a Snowy Owl, please? White with black speckles,” he requested and watched as the change occurred in front of him. He nodded, “That's fine thank you.”

“| **Alright, Elf-Bird Beastman, confirmed. Hair colour: Black. Eye colour: Green. Wings: Snowy Owl. Will that be all?** |” she asked curiously, seemingly a little surprised, though over what he didn't know as he nodded mutely. “| **What would you like your screen name to be?** |” she inquired.

Harry was silent for a moment, “Hedwig,” he decided.

“| **My apologies, Player, but that user name has already been taken. Would you like a list of untaken variations?** |” the woman asked before beginning to list off a collection of five at his nod.

“Confirm White Hedwig please,” Harry decided.

“| **Name confirmed. Where do you wish to start your adventure? Each Region has its own theme, items, advantages, and monsters.** |”

“Please randomly assign me,” Harry stated roughly. He had probably made a mistake in his character, and was finding it very difficult to keep his own feelings of melancholy down. Choosing to model his character after Hedwig so soon after her death wasn't particularly clever, it felt rather like picking at a still open wound. Already memories of that damn green light and her death screech were filling his ears, drowning out any explanation the chirpy woman was giving.

“| **Please decide on your advanced knack!** |” the woman demanded loudly, snapping her fingers in front of his face, suddenly _there_ , her floating chair in front of him making him jolt back to the land of the living. She sat back with a short huff, her pretty face twisted in annoyance for all of a heartbeat before she smiled benignly once again. “| **Here is a list of advanced knacks, and what they do,** |” she explained, flicking a wrist and summoning up a board of information in mid-air for him to read.

Swallowing his depression, he read through them quickly.

“I'll take Steel Wing please,” he said. It seemed like the most useful, he would be able to use his wings as a shield or even as a weapon if need be; pluck a feather, and use it as a sword if he lost his weapon or had a need for throwing knives.

“| **Advanced knack confirmed. Thank you for playing Second Life. Hopefully I'll be seeing you in the game White Hedwig, have fun and remember that if you need any help anyone in the Newbie Village will be happy to answer your questions!** |” the violet haired girl chirped as light flooded the room. Harry glanced at his avatar as he felt himself move, the two of them falling back and towards each other.

White and black feathers flooded his vision, brushing across his skin in a painfully familiar caress that made his chest ache, and his eyes burn as he remembered his beloved pet. Everything about her. The bubble of happiness when Hagrid presented her cage to him, and told him that she was his. Harry's very first real birthday present, and his constant dear companion. Her fiercely intelligent golden eyes, her fluffy white feet and black patterned feathers. How she would tilt her whole head when she 'rolled her eyes' at him, how she would cuff him around the head with a wing when he was being melodramatic or selfish or stupid. How she would bring her kills back to share with him, and chirp demandingly when he got quiet and withdrawn, demanding attention and affection from him. Sunlight shimmering on powerful white wings, the soft coo and squeaks and barks, the smooth soft feel of her feathers, the pinch of her talons. Her bright amber eyes and how she would blink slowly at him in regal consideration, and how she screeched and rattled her cage furiously whenever Uncle Vernon raised his voice, or spoke aggressively at him.

The world rushed past him, and he squeezed his eyes shut against his tears as everything jarred to a stop, and went black.

 


	2. Glitch

“Wow, he's been lying there a while.”

“What about her?”

“Just arrived. She'll be adjusting for a while longer. Damn, is it me or are the new players getting better looking?”

“Definitely. Think she'll want to be my girlfriend?”

“Haha, you're level ten, she won't have a choice!”

Harry cracked his eyes open, flinching slightly from the sudden pain the sunlight brought. He hadn't thought pain could be simulated in these games but apparently, yes, yes it could. His body felt wholly strange and unusual as he heaved himself up onto his hands and knees, apparently having been laid out face down on the dirt ground.

“Oh! They're waking!” a male voice exclaimed, almost immediately above him.

Harry immediately launched himself to his feet in alarm, unknown people hovering above him was _never_ a good thing. He flailed, not anticipating that his knee-jerk reaction had also extended to his new wings, the magnificent white and black fans beating the air and throwing him away from the ground a little too hard. He ended up having to do an odd twirl when his feet touched the ground so he wouldn't over balance, and fall over.

“F-fast,” one of the men breathed. He looked like the average twenty-five year old, with thick black hair in dread-locks, he had handsome chiselled features, and wore an almost insect like black armour. He was staring at him in open mouthed awe. Behind him was a somewhat younger looking boy with plain but cute features with an equally astonished facial expression but very flamboyant red robes and a fancy green jewelled staff, and laid out on the floor, face down, was a long haired figure with the characteristic pointed ears and dusky skin of a Dark Elf.

Harry frowned at them, replaying the conversation he remembered hearing when he was dragging himself out of unconsciousness. So... they planned on forcing that girl into being one of their's girlfriend. But which one was it?

The one in armour shook himself and smiled as charmingly as he possibly could, “Is this your first time playing 'Second Life'?” he asked, both he and his friend completely ignoring the dusky skinned figure on the ground as her fingers and limbs began to twitch with signs on awakening. Harry's eyes narrowed a little at the question, he thought they were going to be bothering the girl but perhaps they now saw him as the bigger threat? Or were they making nice in the hopes that he wouldn't report them, or trying to figure out whether or not he even heard them before he woke up?

“Yes,” he admitted coldly.

Wait, that wasn't his voice? It was too high. No one mentioned anything about Avian Beastmen having different vocal software. Though, thinking about it, given a few of the advanced knacks he read about, it wouldn't have surprised him.

“What's your name?” the robed one asked. “I'm Merriden Kettle, this is Gray Lion,” he said introducing himself and then his armoured friend who still had yet to look anywhere else. The Dark Elf struggled to their feet, dusting themselves off, revealing that they were not, in fact, female. Just long haired. And definitely pretty. But definitely not female now that his face and front half of his body was revealed.

“White Hedwig,” he stated shortly.

“Would you like some help, White Hedwig? We have more than enough money for your equipment and we've been around long enough to know the best training spots,” Gray Lion offered with another smile. Was he... He was. He was staring at Harry's chest. What... oh god, did this _idiot_ think that he was a girl?!

“No,” he ground out, turning around and walking away before he got violent towards those morons. He didn't know what would happen if a level one character got killed but given the fact that he was a starter, and one of those guys was level ten, he didn't fancy his chances. Levels were a foreign concept to him but he understood the main gist of it, the higher you were, the stronger you were.

“What a bitch,” Merriden Kettle muttered, “C'mon Gray, let's find a better girl. She clearly doesn't know a good deal when she sees one.”

Harry bristled furiously as he came to a stop and then glared at them over his shoulder, “I wonder if you're this disgusting in real life, or if you only behave like it where there are no legal consequences. ' _Do you think she'll be my girlfriend? You're level ten, she won't have a choice_ ',” he echoed brutally, scowling at the two suddenly motionless players with knife-sharp green eyes. “People like you are scum.” He didn't wait for a response before he continued on his way, as far from them as possible.

The newbie village was a quaint place that reminded him a lot of Hogsmeade mixed with the medieval renaissance faire he went to once as a kid with Aunt Petunia and Dudley who had been on a big 'knight' phase and wanted to see the jousting tournaments. Only instead of tents, there were actual wood and brick houses with wattle and daub plaster, a mixture of thatch and tiled roofing, and dirt roads between the houses. It was pleasant enough, if a little uncanny valley because there were none of the scents or sensations he would have expected, no faint breeze on his skin, no smell of grass, animal dung, fresh bread, or even hot metal from the blacksmith/farriers. It was beautiful to look at, and there was a lot of the kind of noises that he would have expected. But still, he felt just a little.... uncomfortable.

Plus with the situation he just walked away from, he figured he was best off making himself scarce. He left the newbie village entirely, and made his way to the Lake which, judging by the signs, was actually a good training ground for level one to ten players.

He sighed as he came to the water's edge, the stretch of land looking remarkably like something from the New Forest. He looked around himself, spotting a small aqua coloured blob of shiny goo that looked as if it had gained sentience and oozed its way free of Neville's fourth year potions cauldron. Snape had been particularly virulent that year, he recalled. And the number of cauldrons Neville went through tripled, to the point where his Grandmother stopped sending replacements by February and Harry ended up having to share with him more often than not. If only so Snape could take as many points as possible from the both of them.

He stared at the goo. It stared back. Beady black eyes narrowed before the monster lunged for him with comically blunted fangs. He raised an eyebrow and kicked it in the jaw as soon as it came within range.

| **White Hedwig's attack was successful. Flesh Eating Slime HP -10.** |

So that was how it worked. Huh...

Harry watched as the Slime glooped to a halt before reforming; slowly, and looking a little less shiny and colourful than before. It bared its teeth at him again, and slithered forward with clear intent. These monsters must not have all that much intelligence. Then again, this was supposed to be the beginner area, it would be like one of Remus's DADA assault courses but for the first years.

He kicked it again, perhaps a little too hard as it promptly exploded into a cloud of smoke, startling him into taking another one of those wing-boosted jumps backward that nearly sent him toppling into the lake behind him.

| **Successful attack. Flesh Eating Slime has died! Earned 25 EXP. A knife. A pouch.** |

Harry blinked as he stared down at the objects left within the wake of the blue ooze's explosion. A fairly standard single-edged dagger with a wooden handle wrapped in brown leather with a fairly good edge. It looked to be only six to eight inches long. And a small leather hip-pouch that Hermione would have probably used to organise her ink bottles for class. He picked them up none the less. He didn't have any weapons and having something for carrying, even if he had nothing that needed carrying just yet, was always a good idea.

| **Advice for newbies: To view your statistics, say the word “System”.** |

“Huh... **System** ,” Harry incanted, watching as a large screen popped up in front of him.

**NAME: White Hedwig | GENDER: female**

**LEVEL: 2 | RACE: Elf/Owl Beastman | JOB: None | FAME: 0 | HEALTH: 100**

**STRENGTH: 5 | STAMINA: 6 | AGILITY: 15 | INTELLIGENCE: 8 | SPIRIT: 5 | WISDOM: 10 | CHARISMA: 9 | LUCK: £$%^ & | SPECIAL SKILLS: Steel Wing | EXPERIENCE: 25 | UNSPENT SKILL POINTS: 1**

**INTENTORY: 1. KNIFE |2. N/A |3. N/A |4. N/A |5. N/A |6. N/A |7. N/A |8. N/A |9. N/A |10. N/A |11. N/A |12. N/A |13. N/A |14. N/A |15. N/A |16. N/A |17. N/A |18. N/A**

Huh, not bad in terms of stats. Strength was clearly not his strong suit, and he was rocking it up with all of the Agility points. His Wisdom was also pretty high too. Was someone having a laugh at him? He knew he had a lot of 'world experiences' but that didn't really equate to wisdom, at least, not in game terms he didn't think.

“Wait...” he trailed off, blinking. “ _ **Female?**_ ” he choked, staring at his gender declaration.

Turning, he checked his reflection in the lake.

Somewhat short, messy feathered black hair that was in a rough angled bob cut, short at the back of his neck, and getting longer towards his jaw-line, leaving strands of hair to rest against his collar, pale skin, vivid green eyes, his ears were pointed, to be expected. His face though, he would quite easily admit that his features were too sharp to be considered cute or beautiful or even ruggedly handsome. He looked feral in real life. His avatar had followed suit. Sharp exotic features glared at him from his reflection. Narrowed eyes, a feline-like face with high cheekbones and a petite nose, a small thin mouth, and gracefully arched eyebrows. The scar was gone, thankfully. Long white and black wings arched up from his back, clad in the typical Newbie outfit for the area, it became apparent why the Players back in the village had made a mistake.

“What in the...” Harry trailed off, promptly turning red as he patted his chest in distressed confusion. Breasts. Not big ones though, thankfully. But they were there, irrefutably so. He cupped them in a kind of dazed confusion. They were soft and warm under his hands, heavier than he expected, but less sensitive than he thought they would have been too.

He shook his head in bewilderment as he dropped his hands, “I wonder how I complain about this?” he mumbled distantly. After all, he had no way of contacting Customer Support in real life, but there must have been somewhere he could complain about this in the Game, right?

He yelped in pain as something clamped down on his ankle like Crookshanks in a mood.

| **Flesh Eating Slime's attack was successful. White Hedwig HP -3.** | Harry turned and looked down unhappily at the blue ooze chewing his ankle, it hurt a fair bit. Guess the ninety-nine percent realism the game proclaimed it was famous for had kicked in. He crouched and smacked the Slime away from his leg using a wing, watching in mild fascination as it separated into ribbons of goo, mid-air.

| **White Hedwig's Steel Wing attack was successful. Flesh Eating Slime has died. Earned 25 EXP.** |

Harry smiled a little in excitement, despite the gender issues, this wasn't so bad.

He blinked, hearing a strange sound behind him.

Eight multicoloured ooze monsters were clustering on the grass behind him, staring at him with vacant eyes. He looked at the knife in his hand and decided, why not?

He lunged forward, into the knot of gelatinous ooze, wings and limbs lashing out in a flurry.

He'd never been a very physical fighter but the Weasley Twins had taken him aside more than once and taught him a few tricks to fisty-cuffs. ' _Sometimes Magic just isn't the answer and since you've got the Trace, and the Ministry would give anything to get you under the thumb, it's a good idea to know how to handle yourself._ ' They taught him to hit hard and fast, get in and get out quickly before he could be struck in return. With his wings, he was able to jump over the majority of the slimes, and land on them with both punishing kicks and down thrusts of his knives – the previous kills having amassed a small selection of them.

“You're strong. For a girl,” a voice spoke up as Harry killed the last in his little mob of Neville's Potion Accidents with a contemptuous flick of a wing. A little victory chime in his ears told him he'd just reached level ten as well.

He glanced over his shoulder, frowning a little when he recognised the Dark Elf from the newbie village where he first woke up. The one that he had mistaken for a girl at first.

Harry frowned at him, “What does being a girl have to do with being strong?” he asked contemptuously.

Out of _everyone_ he knew, not including Voldemort, the ones he'd least like to get into a fight with were the girls. Hermione could kick his ass six ways to Sunday with all the spells she knew, Ginny would just kick his ass as hard as she physically could, Molly Weasley was a force of nature and all you could do was stand back and hope it passed by with as little amount of devastation as possible, Professor McGonagall would just turn him into something unpleasant and then take points off for his lack of acceptable appearance, Fleur... she was a Champion in the Triwizard Tournament, he hadn't seen what she was capable of, but he really didn't want to know. She was part Veela so he was assuming fire had something to do with it. And then there was Bellatrix Lestrange, the Death Eater no one wanted to get on the wrong side of the wand. Yeah, women were fucking terrifying and anyone who said otherwise was welcome to say that to their faces and see what happened – the smart ones will watch and drink tea while they finish with him.

The young man didn't answer, merely strode over and began to circle him, hand on his chin, the other folded around his chest.

“You're not much on top,” he decided quite out of the blue, making Harry frown in confusion, not understanding, “but you've got nice legs, and an interesting face. Plus the wings. Not many people choose Bird Beastman due to the strength and and stamina penalty but you don't seem to have a problem with it,” the boy pointed out as he actually grabbed one of Harry's wings and stretched it out fully. “Huh, owl wings. I was expecting something stupid and feminine but owls are pretty awesome,” he stated as Harry twitched, and jerked said wing out of his grasp with gritted teeth and crawling skin. “Can you fly yet?” the annoying Elf asked, practically looming over him.

Harry had to remind himself that due to, whatever happened earlier, he was currently playing as a girl. As... as Hedwig. How would she react? Well, she would probably have bitten him and flown off by now but Harry had yet to level up enough to the point where he could fly. He had tried to fly earlier but gliding and hovering seemed to be the best he could do thus far.

“I'm Lung Tien by the way,” the other Player finally said, having decided that the girl in front of him wasn't going to say anything just yet.

He was curious. She had started the game after him and yet woken up before him. Not to mention what she'd said to those other Players, it got him thinking, then he'd stumbled across her while she was level grinding. It was quite amazing to watch as she killed the Slimes using punches, kicks, knife stabs and even her wings. He wasn't aware that Bird Beastmen could use their wings as weapons – they just seemed like huge targets to him. “Tell me your name. I'll need to know it when we join up,” he told her bluntly. She was by far the most interesting girl he had encountered on any MMO, the majority tended to stick with support roles and leech off the other male characters for stuff they were too weak or cowardly to collect themselves. Not to mention they put so much emphasis on their bodies during character creation they usually all ended up looking alike with only a slight individual flair. This girl... it looked as if she'd just requested her race, subspecies, and got started. After all, it was almost unheard of for a girl to start any customisable online MMO with something less than a C-cup.

“Not interested,” she told him flatly before turning and walking away. Lung blinked in surprise, she... that was unexpected.

He followed her anyway. Those wings were kind of hard to lose.

“ **System** ,” the girl called and paused as her screen popped up.

**NAME: White Hedwig | GENDER: female**

**LEVEL: 10 | RACE: Elf/Owl Beastman | JOB: None | FAME: 0 | HEALTH: 330**

**STRENGTH: 10 | STAMINA: 12 | AGILITY: 30 | INTELLIGENCE: 19 | SPIRIT: 23 | WISDOM: 20 | CHARISMA: 18 | LUCK: £$%^ & | SPECIAL SKILLS: Steel Wing, Glide, Hover | EXPERIENCE: 3100 | UNSPENT SKILL POINTS: 3**

**INTENTORY: 1. KNIFE |2. POTION |3. POTION |4. BLUE GOO |5. ORANGE GOO |6. ORANGE GOO |7. KNIFE |8. N/A |9. N/A |10. N/A |11. N/A |12. N/A |13. N/A |14. N/A |15. N/A |16. N/A |17. N/A |18. N/A**

Lung blinked as he saw her stats, level ten already? He was still only level six. But still, this was good, he knew her name now at least, White Hedwig. She was a fair bit faster than he had anticipated but physically a lot weaker as well, only strength ten while he was already on strength twenty. She was pretty damn stubborn as well judging by that Spirit stat, it looked as if she would be immune to most low-level status affect spells and ailments, not to mention her attacks would still be powerful even if her health dropped beneath critical point. She would do well as a mage with her wisdom points as well, and it was always good to have a mage on your side. Right, Lung decided, he was definitely sticking with Hedwig. She was interesting, high-level, didn't back talk, and wasn't one of those annoying bishie-hunters, not to mention he was more of an ass man than a breast man. Lung tilted his head and watched her walk with a grin. Yup, definitely sticking with Hedwig.

Harry ignored his new shadow with an ease borne of familiarity, it was almost like having Colin following him again, complete with eyes on his backside. He twitched as they reentered the newbie village. Harry sighed running a hand through his hair and looking about for someone who could help, ignoring Lung Tien entirely as he asked what he was doing. Instead, Harry made his way towards a little old dear on her rocking chair sat in one of the porches of the houses.

“Could you help me, please ma'am,” he requested as he approached her. The old woman smiled and rocked a little.

“What would you like to know?” she asked in her wispy delicate voice. She was wrapped up in a lace shawl wearing a rather frayed dress, good honest boots caked in mud, her thin white hair was pulled back into a messy bun and she was peering up at them through her glasses. She looked a little like the classic grandmother from a fairy-tale.

“Could you tell me how to become a warrior, please?” he requested, ignoring the way Lung Tien spluttered and tried to break in squawking ' _you can't do that! You're clearly mage material!_ '.

The old woman chuckled, “Collect ten wolf-fangs and inform the Mayor's son,” she explained, “Though perhaps you should listen to your young man, and look to becoming a Mage. A great deal of power sleeps within you, my girl,” she pointed out.

Harry bowed his head slightly, and got to his feet, “Thank you ma'am, but I think I'll stick with my original plans.”

Lung Tien scoffed unhappily, “You'd make a poor Warrior with that measly strength stat,” he pointed out. “Besides, I'm planning on being a Warrior so what use is there in your becoming one? You do realise the realism patch also causes the player pain when they're attacked, right? Girls should just stick to magic so they won't get hurt. Its not like I'll scam you by not buying you decent equipment,” he added unhappily, folding his arms in offence.

Harry stopped and faced in, frowning irritably, “Leave me alone,” he commanded out before turning and continuing to walk away.

God damn, Dudley complained with Piers about girl players in Life and The World, mostly about how weak they were and how they had to protect them, but on the other hand they were all cute and happy to play ' _girlfriend_ ' for good equipment and protection from monsters. He hadn't realised it was such a wide-spread phenomenon that it was actually expected by everyone, and that _not_ doing so was considered strange and unexpected.

Speaking of, how did he go about _finding_ his cousin?

Lung Tien seemed to have taken his request to heart and left, so there was no asking him, and he couldn't be particularly bothered to turn around back into the village in order to ask an NPC. He would try later, when he got back with his Wolf Fangs. Hmm, the sign post for the Plains suggested it would be his best bet to find the appropriate drops, level ten to twenty monsters. Likely as not there would be Wolves in there. There didn't seem to be anyone there, which was good. Lung Tien had been really getting on Harry's nerves trying to boss him around so much just because his character was female, he didn't know how he would have reacted to yet _more_ people doing the same.

Time to start fighting some wolves.

 

* * *

 

“ **System**!” Harry called wiping blood from his face, slumping down on the ground as his menu opened up in front of him. He'd been there for a while killing everything he'd run across, wolves and the much more rarely spawning bears. He'd collected the required ten wolf-fangs a fair while ago but hadn't wanted to leave until he'd finally hit the level twenty cap.

**NAME: White Hedwig | GENDER: female**

**LEVEL: 21 | RACE: Elf/Owl Beastman | JOB: None | FAME: 0 | HEALTH: 30/710**

**STRENGTH: 27 | STAMINA: 26 | AGILITY: 53 | INTELLIGENCE: 45 | SPIRIT: 55 | WISDOM: 59 | CHARISMA: 30 | LUCK: £$%^ & | SPECIAL SKILLS: Steel Wing, Glide, Hover, Fly, Defence Cloak, Razor Wing | EXPERIENCE: 11,550 | UNSPENT SKILL POINTS: 8**

**INTENTORY: 1. KNIFE |2. N/A |3. N/A |4. BLUE GOO |5. ORANGE GOO |6. ORANGE GOO |7. WOLF FANG |8. WOLF FANG |9. WOLF FANG |10. WOLF FANG |11. WOLF FANG |12. WOLF FANG |13. WOLF FANG |14. WOLF FANG |15. WOLF FANG |16. WOLF FANG |17. WOLF FANG |18. WOLF FANG**

Level twenty one, he must have gotten that one in the last mob he'd slaughtered.

Still, he had more than enough fangs to make a job change with a few odds and ends to sell off for more potions. He shuddered at the feeling of blood sticking to his skin, and got to his feet. He would go and change job class, sell the stuff he didn't need, buy new armour, and take a bath to clean up. The Inn should have some form of bathing facility for players to use, right? This was a 99% realism game, if they could feel pain, something like bathing would probably be needed. It wasn't like blood evaporated of its own accord.

Heaving himself up and closing the menu, Harry stretched his wings out and jumped into the air. He didn't have the health points right now for another Wolf Mob, he could avoid that if he flew to back to the Newbie Village.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter get!
> 
> A lot of the ½ Prince interactions are horribly sexist, I've kept them in for both annoyance, and comedic effect.


	3. Broken Fist

 

Harry had always been a quick study when it came to technology. No one from Little Whinging Junior School could boast any form of skill with wiring or electricals, and yet Harry was repairing Dudley’s broken toys, alarm clocks, and Petunia’s kitchen appliances with more than a small degree of skill. So it barely took him any time at all after he finished his forays into level-grinding to figure out how the ‘Second Life’ systems, preferences, and settings could be changed to suit him, along with all the little extra features that just made life so much easier. He may not have been as _logical_ as Hermione, but he was very intuitive, and possessed a little used super power in the Wizarding World known as: common sense.

Hence his setting things up like an internal alarm/pop-up that informed the Player of the time, ten minutes before they were due to awaken so they could get to a safe zone or step out of whatever fight or tournament or event they were participating in. The alarm became his life-saver. Not to mention the game itself.

Harry had never seen a wedding, nor participated in one. But he had absolutely no idea how... _mental_ it drove people, older women specifically. It was all he could do to avoid Mrs Weasley, and her mad cleaning, primping, and arranging sprees. He would have been less annoyed if she hadn’t been trying to keep him away from both Ron and Hermione at the same time, but she must have had some inkling of what they intended on doing. Some kind of sixth sense when it came to their safety, or when they intended on doing something she wouldn’t have approved of because neither Ron nor Hermione would have let any information slip regarding their intentions to drop-out of Hogwarts. Either way, ‘Second Life’ became his sanctuary away from the chaos of the Burrow in full 'wedding preparation' swing.

He gained the Warrior job classification a few days ago, and pointedly ignored Lung Tien when he showed up to offer snarky and derogatory commentary that very nearly got him a knife to the throat. Why the arrogant little toe-rag was harassing him, Harry hadn't the faintest idea, but it was getting old. And fast.

He now had a new appreciation and respect for Ginny, Hermione, and especially Fleur's restraint in dealing with idiot men who wouldn't take no for an answer, or get out of their space, or just accept the fact that they knew what they were talking about. Lung Tien was rapidly getting all over his last nerve, and Harry just didn't know how to deal with him without literally attempting to stab him – something that he had seen get other players into trouble. If your fame dropped to negatives, you got infamy, and a bounty put on your head in accordance with how high your infamy numbers were.

“If you won't go away, make yourself useful at least!” he finally snapped after half a week, glaring at the somewhat taken aback Dark Elf. “My cousin told me to PM him, but I haven't the faintest idea how to do it. How do I contact him?” he demanded, wings bristling with agitation and annoyance.

Lung Tien pressed his lips together unhappily. He didn't really want to share Hedwig with anyone. She was cute, and actually took the game seriously, or rather, her combat seriously. And while he never said as much, she... she _did_ make for a good Warrior. She would be a phenomenal mage, but, she was a damn good warrior. He did idly wonder if she knew some form of fencing in real life but any question of her life outside the game was met with a Look that stopped him from prodding further. Clearly, an avenue of conversation she would never entertain with a strange man on the internet, which was decidedly intelligent, if insulting to his honour. He was hardly like those pig-fart examples of men she first encountered within Second Life, he would never force himself on a girl.

“Basically, if you know his username, you go through System. **[ System: Private Message: Recipient WHITE HEDWIG: This is a PM. /END MESSAGE. ]** And that's how you do it,” he explained, adjusting his armoured gloves a tad and watching her as she turned away to send her message.

Tien had never played with a girl like Hedwig. And he found himself enjoying her quiet company a lot more than those soft frivolous airheads who shrieked away from monsters and pain, and spent their time hanging on his arm in the hopes for cuter armour, and weapons as if he were little more than a walking wallet/money pouch to be used. The one time he'd gotten Hedwig a staff, a white and green one with ribbons and hearts like his last MMO-girlfriend went gaga for, she'd given him such a dirty look he legitimately thought she was about to take it off his hands and insert it somewhere uncomfortable. Instead, all she did was hit him with one of her lightning paralysis attacks, and then walk away, leaving him face down in the dirt twitching horribly.

Orange Peel laughed himself sick when he stumbled on the Dark Elf, helping him up and using one of his few Healing Spells to fix up the damage and bring his health back to normal. The cheeky combat mage thought it was hilarious that he'd never encountered a 'feminazi' before, cheerfully explaining that some women just did not appreciate being treated as if they were anyone or anything less than another guy. Holding doors open, giving equipment, money and attempting to protect them were insulting. Basically, if you wouldn't do it for a guy, don't do it for one of them. Also, any fart jokes or dirty humour jokes weren't allowed. They were still ladies, and didn't like it.

Hedwig didn't act like a feminazi, or at least, the kind that Orange Peel described to him. She just... didn't like being thought of as weak, as someone who couldn't protect, or provide for herself. She had a surprisingly strong moral centre as he had already seen when they first met, and several times again when she stepped between players either about to get into fights, or harassing newbies, younger players, or women.

She sighed, dragging him away from his thoughts. Some of the lines of her face and back had tensed up something awful even though her face showed absolutely nothing at all. That was... he thought cousins were generally close?

“He should be here soon. I told him to meet us at the Sea Turtle Restaurant,” Hedwig explained, fingers brushing the handles of her knives before checking her money pouch, item pouch, and the wrappings on her straight sword.

“You are.... anxious,” Tien noted. She only ever touched her weapons like that when she was uneasy. A kind of nervous tic, always ensuring she had something to defend herself with close at hand. After following her through a few monster dens, he was more familiar with her quirks than he would have been of any other player's. She kept so quiet and rarely allowed any emotion to show that he had to watch her in an almost obsessively stalkerish way just to get her habits memorised. And right now, she was displaying almost every single one of her anxiety markers, and several more that he hadn't yet figured out. Worry began to gnaw at him.

She looked at him and for a moment, Tien thought he would receive a glare. But she wavered, and he actually saw emotion cross her face as she chewed her bottom lip. “I left my Aunt and Uncle's house in... unfortunate circumstances. My cousin said something that... a few years ago would have caused considerable upset. I have been... worried.”

Tien's mind was practically klaxioning as another mark tallied itself in an unwanted category. He was going to have to question Hedwig's cousin extensively when he arrived. The more Tien thought about it, the more he was beginning to worry about Hedwig's home life. At first he just thought he was being paranoid because she refused to talk about reality to him, figuring that it was just because she didn't want to give out personal information to what was essentially a stranger, but like he said, she had some anxiety markers that made him uneasy. Some of her habits and behaviours were textbook, and he tried to ignore it, but now this? He was getting more and more suspicious of his first conclusions.

“Come on,” she stated, turning and making her way to the southern part of Sun City where the restaurant was. “I'd like to get something to eat before he arrives.” Mainly because Harry wasn't too certain he would be able to eat once Dudley was there; too nervous, and wary of having his food stolen, just like the old days.

It was something he'd noticed. A lot of his experiences from Hogwarts, the Triwizard Tournament, they were paying off here in Second Life in surprising ways. True he couldn't use his magic here, but magical theory and all those little magical trivia tit-bits Hermione had told him over the years were greatly useful. Even what little he recalled from science classes, such as low pressure and cloud formations, not to mention other things like temperature differentials and such, came in handy. Somehow everything was calculated and the game system was entirely self-sufficient. How that even _worked_ just boggled Harry's mind, and he gave up trying to understand it a long time ago, just accepted that it worked.

Hermione could have explained it all, but... well, she wasn't one for games, and she had pretty much completely cut herself off from the muggle world. The more Harry thought about it, the stranger that seemed to him - that she was willing to accept a place as a second class citizen in a backwards society that was breeding itself into extinction rather than staying in the muggle world, and working to the point to possibly becoming the Prime Minister. She could have certainly pulled it off. Or become a high flying lawyer, scientist, doctor, the sky was the limit for someone like her. Thinking about it... he had no idea what she planned on doing with her future. He... didn't even know her favourite colour, or foods. He didn't know who her first crush was, or her mother's name, he didn't know if she had siblings, or if she had ever had any broken bones. He didn't know what she was scared of – beyond heights, and that was because he put her in that position riding Buckbeak to rescue Sirius. He... barely knew her. And yet he called her his bestfriend, his sister in all but blood. But he knew even less about her than he did about Dumbledore. Everything had always been about him. His problems. His life. His interests.  
  
Gods, he was selfish.

“Hedwig.” A hand landed on his shoulder, making him tense, and automatically grasp a knife. “You almost walked past the restaurant,” Tien pointed out, outwardly ignoring the knife but internally shitting a brick. He'd seen how quickly she could make a level twenty five orc-spider into paste with that thing. He had _never_ seen her this jumpy. Not even when they were exploring the Serpent Tunnels, and he thought that would be the most unsettled he would ever see her. Clearly he was wrong.

“Ah.” She let go of the knife and rubbed her face. “I'm sorry, Tien. I... I wasn't paying attention,” she admitted softly before opening the door and heading in, holding it open for him to follow.

“Clearly,” Tien muttered softly, watching her with poorly concealed concern as she made her way to one of the tables at the back in front of a bay window. The Restaurant wasn't too crowded, but the people there did turn and watch her progress. She had been establishing something of a reputation for herself as being swift, silent, and lethal when monster grinding, as well as willing to step in and defend others if she saw an injustice. Capable of taking on monsters of considerably higher level and winning, she was something of a lone wolf given how Tien was the only Player who managed to partner with her due to the simple fact he didn't leave her alone. She had drawn attention from various fighting groups, yet so far only the Saint Knights Coalition had attempted to approach her. They had, however, made the mistake of choosing one of the most misogynistic Players in Sun City to try recruiting her. Really, they should not have been surprised when she considered the 300 point drop in her Fame worth it to Corpse Camp him down five levels after some of the shit that came out of that moron's mouth. If she hadn't done it, Tien would have in her place, _that_ was how bad it was.

The Saint Knight's leader, Fan, had yet to send anyone else to contact her.

Tien would be lying if he said he wasn't concerned that the womanising asshole would approach her himself. It wasn't that he thought she would be taken in by his pretty face, and as a Celestial it was a _very_ pretty face, he was the type of guy who would Corpse Camp her down to level one, and steal all of her belongings if she said no. And he wouldn't do it alone. He would get everyone in the Coalition to help him do it, rendering her every attempt to escape moot. He treated women like clothing, and saw no issue with burning one that had no use to him, he had seen it before. And poor Ice Phoenix, she had no idea...

“Tien...” Hedwig called, stood at the table waiting for him.

Though, now that he thought about it, Fan would have to fight a lot of the Players in Sun City to cause the beastwoman harm. While Hedwig wasn't the most social of Players, she just had that effect on people. They flocked to her. They _wanted_ to help her. Protect her. They just... liked her, despite her, at first, prickly attitude. It helped that she was a staunch defender of others, she was practically _adored_ by the younger players and the women in Sun City for running off stalkers and bullies on their behalf (Tien had encountered a few underage players forming a _fanclub_ of all things).

“Can I take your order?” the perky NPC waitress chirped, leaning forward slightly and giving Tien a much appreciated eyeful down her loose top as he sat down.

“Apple juice, and some cinnamon pastries,” Hedwig requested. She loved pastries and never drank anything that wasn't fruit juice or milk – she never told him why she refused anything alcoholic and actually got up, and left him to pay the bill the one time he pressed the matter, so he had long since stopped bringing it up.

“I'll have some cranberry mead, and a portion of lamb stew,” Tien stated as the girl noted their orders down, and swanned off with a very appreciable swing of her hips. “When will your cousin be getting here?” he asked once the waitress had left, taking her perky derrière with her, watching as the beastwoman opened her profile and began to organise her items. Another nervous tic.

“Soon. Half an hour to an hour,” she stated shortly, not even attempting to hide her menu from his eyes like most would have.

**NAME: White Hedwig | GENDER: female**

  **LEVEL: 35 | RACE: Elf/Owl Beastman | JOB: Warrior | FAME: 800 | HEALTH: 1481 | MANA: 444**

  **STRENGTH: 45 | STAMINA: 38 | AGILITY: 60 | INTELLIGENCE: 50 | SPIRIT: 65 | WISDOM: 73 | CHARISMA: 45 | LUCK: £$%^ & | SPECIAL SKILLS: Steel Wing, Fly, Defence Cloak, Razor Wing, Lightning Conflagration, Static Rain, Thunder Roar, Hammer of Thor | EXPERIENCE: 32,788 | UNSPENT SKILL POINTS: 0**

  **INVENTORY: 1. Super Potion |2. Super Potion |3. Super Potion |4. Super Potion |5. Potion |6. Potion |7. Potion |8. Mana Seeds |9. Mana Seeds |10. Mana Seeds |11. Mana Leaf |12. YinYang Fruit |13. Soul Benediction |14. Soul Benediction |15. Soul Benediction |16. Soul Benediction |17. Tent |18. Tent**

Tien smiled slightly in fond amusement. Her Luck stat was just as messed up as always. Though he had to bite his tongue almost to the point of tasting blood when he saw her Wisdom stat. It was disgustingly high for someone only on level thirty five. Most players had _less_ than half that Wisdom stat when lining up at the Mage's Sanctum and the Priest's Temple. It was almost painful to see her wasting that kind of potential. But she had made herself clear. She would rather stab her enemy than set them on fire.

Though given the power behind her electric attacks...

“Here we go, enjoy your meals!” the waitress chirped suddenly appearing with trays, before flitting away to other customers.

As the two tucked into their meals, Tien sat back to do some people watching, idly wondering if he would recognise Hedwig's cousin when he walked in. Often times family looked fairly alike. He half hoped they did. That way people would most likely mistake this ' _Broken Fist_ ' as her brother, and assume he was her Husband. Though the thought of marrying Hedwig alternatively made his ears hot, and the rest of him cold. She would sooner kick his ass than marry him. She didn't even seem aware that there was a marriage system in Second Life.

He nodded his head and waved a hand in greeting as he spotted Nan Gong Zui march into the restaurant with a face like thunder, undoubtedly searching for his god-sister, Ice Phoenix, and thus Fan of the Saint Knights Coalition. That could get messy. Nan Gong Zui had a hot temper where she was concerned, and Fan enjoyed pushing at all of his most painful buttons. And if things between them kicked off, then the Righteous Blades and the Saint Knights Coalition would butt heads, and Sun and Moon Cities would be in the middle of a Guild War. Not pretty. It would drive away the majority of their economy as no newbies wanted to get involved in a long standing grudge.

There went Chuang Wai, and Swan Beauty, trotting after Nan Gong Zui, throwing nods in his direction in place of their leader who distractedly waved an arm in Tien's direction as he scanned through the Restaurant patrons before stalking off elsewhere when it became obvious the girl wasn't present.

“Phoenix is pushing her luck,” Hedwig murmured softly, taking Tien by surprise, lifting all the hairs on his arms as he snapped his head around to stare at her. She was watching Nan Gong Zui and his team as they left, her expression hard to read. “One day, they aren't going to go chasing after her. And all she'll have left is Fan,” the winged girl commented softly. She turned back to her food, “No one waits forever.”

Tien sighed as he leaned back in his seat, “You're right but... families don't give up on each other so quickly. And Nan Gong Zui is as traditional as it gets. He feels as though Ice Phoenix is his responsibility, even though he's only her god-brother.”

Hedwig paused, her fork hovering over her pastry, “God-brother?” she echoed, sounding a little pained. Tien nodded and she set her fork down with a firm clack, finger lingering on the metal for a second. She took a deep breath, and kneaded at her eyes for a moment before picking up her drink, “...may have to deal with Fan sooner than anticipated,” she mumbled, just catching the edges of Tien's hearing. He blinked, startled as he leaned back in his seat. She had already anticipated antagonistic behaviour from the Saint Knights Coalition?

“I wasn't... aware you knew what was going on,” he admitted hesitantly, eyebrow raised.

She blinked, looking at him from over the rim of her glass and he was once again struck by the colour of her eyes, wondering if it were natural or just something she selected during character creation. She set her drink down. “I may not like talking, but listening is always worth while,” Hedwig pointed out gently, “People have a bad habit of lying, but you can usually tell if you listen. Little things give you clues.”

The Dark Elf nodded thoughtfully, she had a point. He wasn't used to hearing things so insightful these days. People liked to think they were philosophical, but they often came across as self-righteous and irritating when doing so, even in Man-hwa and Japanese Manga. Especially in Western comics.

Hedwig abruptly sat up, hands clenching to the point of white knuckles on her drink, “He's here,” she whispered staring at the door way.

Tien twisted and stared.

Her cousin was not what he expected.

Tall, thickly built, and ridiculously muscled. Human and clearly a Warrior. He wore heavy set armour that was at _least_ in the level forty equipment cap. Thick blond hair, rumpled, and messy caught the light as he looked around. He wasn't ugly, but his features were a little too thick and rounded to be classically attractive. His eyes were just that shade too small and close. A hundred tiny imperfections that, had they been on separate faces, wouldn't have been so bad. But combined all together they just...

Clear sky blue eyes landed on them and for a split second, Tien could see what a girl may find attractive in the muscle-head. You didn't find many people with eyes that shade, even in the game. They were like Hedwig's stunning green orbs but... quieter.

Confusion twisted his features as he hesitantly made his way over, “Is that you?” he asked, blinking at the Owl Beast-woman in confusion.

Her smile was tight, and hesitant as she kicked a chair out, “Yes. My game glitched while I was in character creation and, well, I have no way of contacting the company to complain so I'm a little stuck. It's not so bad. The Players have caused me more problems than anything else,” she explained as the Warrior took a seat, and she turned back to her food. And it wasn't Tien's imagination when she leaned on her arm, as if to shield her plate surreptitiously from the blond.

She never did that around him! Around anyone even!

Fist nodded, “Well, you've always had that effect on technology,” he pointed out sheepishly, “When you didn't PM me, I thought you may have thrown the game away.”

She shook her head still not looking up, “I will admit, I did forget about it in the... excitement, of leaving.”

“How did that go?” Fist asked, leaning forward and touching her hand. Tien bristled visibly as Hedwig tensed, but her eyes weren't on Fist, they were far away.

Her mouth opened but nothing came out for a few seconds before she closed it, took a breath and started again. “George lost an ear. He was one of the twins you met back when we were fourteen. Fred, his brother, was the one who dropped the prank sweet you ate.” Fist shuddered and moved his mouth strangely, as if checking his tongue was still where it should have been. “Moody...” she suddenly snapped her head up and looked at Tien before back to Broken Fist, “Here isn't the best place,” she stated flatly.

He nodded and jerked his hand back as if burned, “Of course. I'm sorry,” he spluttered, leaning back in his seat.

“Order food or whatever, I need to wash my face a second,” Hedwig stated, getting to her feet and stalking away. She was upset, Tien decided, she only ever did that when she needed to clear her head and think something through. She would only be a few minutes and he doubted he would get an opportunity like this again.

“Her home-life was abusive, wasn't it?” he asked Broken Fist who snapped his head around so fast the Dark Elf almost saw the dip in his hit-points as his neck cracked. “She hasn't said anything, she rarely says _anything_ to be honest, but the way she moves, speaks, and glares at people is very telling. What happened? Given the way she was curling her arm around her food when you arrived I can assume she was starved for a time, and within your presence. She was very tense, and anxious about meeting you again, I must admit, it's painting a very unfortunate picture in my mind's eye about how- ” Lung Tien could have carried on for another twenty minutes with all of his observations, and deductions regarding the younger woman. He may spend most of his time playing online games, but he was very serious about his future job. He wanted to be a Detective, or a CSI, or even a criminal profiler. Any and all, he didn't care but he was determined to catch criminals in either a small or a big way, and make the world a better place. But Broken Fist came clean without even the slightest bit of pressure.

Perhaps there was more to his choice in the word 'Broken' than Tien had previously anticipated.

“She was,” he admitted, eyes downcast. “We grew up together. She's only a few weeks or so younger than me, so we've been in all the same classes and schools. Her parents... Mum doesn't like talking about them, she always told us they were drunks who died in a car accident. But we found out when we were eleven that they were murdered when one of their friends tracked us down to talk to her about Private school. She was sent to live with us the next day. Mum complained about how she was taking the milk bottles out and found her on the doorstep with nothing more than a letter.

“But we took her in. I still think she would have been happier in an orphanage after everything but... Mum was scared. She'd always been scared of them. Her sister married a bad sort, at least that's what she said. That's why they got killed.”

Tien pursed his lips, scowling at the improbability of such a story. But Broken Fist wasn't lying. He could tell that simply by his body language and facial twitches, even the tone of his voice. This was genuinely what he had been told and understood to be true.

“How was she mistreated?” he pressed, he had to know. He didn't know why, but he... _had_ to.

“She lived in the cupboard under the stairs, even though I had two bedrooms.” The Dark Elf's blood ran cold and hot with anger and horror. “Mum made her do all the chores, gardening, cooking, cleaning, the lot, and barely ever fed her. Dad just shouted and snarled. He... he hit her once or twice, never hard. I don't think he even liked the idea of touching her. He would always scrub his hands if he did. I... I was spoilt so much I'm lucky I'm not a sociopath right now. She saved my life. Back when we were fifteen. We were attacked and I panicked, I freaked out and couldn't do anything. She got rid of them and dragged my ungrateful ass back home. I blamed her and my parents tried to throw her out. It didn't happen. Mum managed to talk Dad down from it but still...”

The two sat in silence, mulling over their thoughts before Tien placed a knife on the table, glaring at Broken Fist with steely grey blue eyes.

“Hedwig, for reasons I cannot fathom yet, seems to want to give you a second chance. But you're only getting one. Betray her, hurt her, even look at her wrong, and I will Corpse Camp you to level one, hack your software, and _melt_ your brain. Am I understood?” the Dark Elf hissed, standing up and leaning into Dudley Dursley's face. Much like many other players in Sun City, he had fallen into Hedwig's thrall, and would not tolerate anyone attempting to do her harm, or ill. People like her were rare and precious, and needed protecting. Especially from the things they refused to protect themselves from.

The blond nodded, “Crystal.” If he was surprised by the other male's vehemence to protect his cousin, he didn't show it. And little to Tien's knowledge, Dudley had been expecting it. Harry had that effect on people.

 

 


	4. Romulus

 

Dudley Dursley had been on pins and needles for days, ever since he'd given his cousin a copy of 'Second Life'. Ever since he and his parents had left for an extended holiday out of the British Isles, ditching the strangely cheerful and scatty man, and strict young woman who were apparently there for their safety.

He had been logging into the game almost obsessively, checking his messages, just in case. If his parents weren't used to the behaviour, they likely would have been concerned. The most he heard on the matter was an unhappy whimper from his mother when she complained of hardly ever seeing him in between his training for his boxing, and that 'horrid foreign game'. His dad told her to leave it. After all, a young man wanted to do his own thing and while he undoubtedly loved his mother, it was still considered uncool to hang out with his parents.

Dudley didn't enlighten them to the small fact that now his eyes were open, his parents disgusted him.

Every time he looked at them it felt like something was crushing his insides as he remembered everything they had ever told him about his place in the world, and all the things they'd said and done to a child who didn't understand why. He hated them for what they did to Harry, and by extension, what they'd done to him. The weird merlin-guy that his cousin admired was right. This parents had nearly ruined him with their coddling. Their obsessive need to deny his cousin everything and give it to him instead.

So he spent all of his time in Second Life whenever he wasn't doing laps or working up a sweat in the gym.

Second Life was all the things his parents hated. It was full of magic, unnatural things, foreigners, and men and women who were so much more attractive, intelligent, and well paid than they were. Mr and Mrs Dursley were very envious people, and Dudley knew that quite well. Had they seen just what kind of game their son was playing, their reaction would not have been so low-key or calm as that one complaint his mother gave.

But he loved it.

It truly was a second life, a second chance for him to be someone completely new. Someone without the guillotine 'Big D' hanging over their head. Here... he could be Dudley, the Broken Fist, he didn't have to pretend to be the bully he used to be, or watch out for his 'rep'. If he wanted to sit on his own in a bar, then he could, or if he wanted to lounge around in a field of flowers no one was going to point and laugh at him for it. Here he could fight to his heart's content, and not have that bitter, sour milk feeling in the pit of his stomach when he looked back and recalled the children he used to bloody simply because it was funny. Here, he was _praised_ for killing monsters, and being strong and boisterous. The fact that he was a gentleman too had only caused people's respect for him to rise. Though he never officially joined any team, he did flit from group to group, and his level skyrocketed accordingly.

Not to mention his cash.

Then... out of the blue...

**[ New PM received! Sender: WHITE HEDWIG. MESSAGE:** _Dudley, this is Harry. Only recently figured out the PM system. Are you still interested in making another go of it?_ **/END MESSAGE. ]** Dudley thought his heart was about to launch itself out of his throat. He had almost given up hope of his cousin trying to contact him, either because he didn't want to, threw the game away, or had the misfortune to end up on a different continent (PMing between continents was impossible). Harry's survival instincts were top notch, he would say one thing for an easy life but wouldn't follow through unless it benefited him or he genuinely liked you, Dudley knew that no matter where he ended up he would have been fine, could handle himself. He wasn't the naïve and falsely optimistic type. Dudley's parents had ensured that. But that didn't change the fact that Dudley still wanted to see him, spend time with him.

**[ System: Private Message: Recipient WHITE HEDWIG: Yes! Yes, I'm definitely still interested. Where are you? We could meet up, if you'd like? /END MESSAGE ]** he hastily sent back.

**[ New PM received! Sender: WHITE HEDWIG. MESSAGE:** _Um, I'm in Sun City. And yes, I would like to see you too. When would you like to meet?_ **/END MESSAGE ]**

**[ System: Private Message: Recipient WHITE HEDWIG: I can meet you now, if you'd like? I'm not too far out. Just in the wilds between Sun and Moon. Twenty minutes, half an hour? That is if you want. /END MESSAGE ]** It felt almost ridiculous how hesitant he was being over this, how both he and Harry were dancing around one another, trying not to trample over the elephant in the room or make demands or push anything on the other. It was delicate work and neither of them wanted to ruin this precious second chance. At least, Dudley most certainly didn't. In fact, he had already sheathed his sword, and began to sprint towards Sun City. He'd never been there before, he tended to spend most of his time in Moon City, liking the Asian feel to it – though he definitely had a predilection to Japanese culture, Chinese culture was amazing and he most certainly wasn't going to be turning his nose up at it any time soon.

**[ New PM received! Sender: WHITE HEDWIG. MESSAGE:** _That's fine. Can you meet us at the Sea Turtle Restaurant? It's a tavern not too far from the west entrance, black and white Tudor style building with multi-panelled windows like Aunt Marge has. I'm currently with a Dark Elf Warrior, look for the snowy owl beastman. Just to warn you though, I don't look like Harry Potter anymore._ **/END MESSAGE ]**

**[ System: Private Message: Recipient WHITE HEDWIG: That's fine. I don't exactly look like myself either. I'm a human Warrior with blond hair, actually, the same hairstyle you always have. I'm a bit taller and a lot broader. Anyway, I'll see you in a little while. I... I look forward to it. /END MESSAGE ]**

He waited briefly for a reply but never received one as he continued to run. Unless he was being sarcastic or trying to pick a fight (and hadn't Dudley been thrown through a loop when THAT happened. Complete role reversal. Why the hell was his cousin _actively_ trying to start something?), Harry generally wasn't one to mince words. He ignored any monsters who crossed his path, making his way to Sun City which was just about visible over the hills due to the central tower.

Sun City was built like a medieval fort, a castle enclosed within high walls with towering parapets, and a long bridge leading up to a draw-bridge entrance. He didn't pay too much attention to the style of buildings around him, except to note the distinct European flare, as he looked around for the Sea Turtle Restaurant, idly wondering if it was a Dragon Ball reference before his eyes landed on it – the lack of pink laying his suspicions to rest as he made his way over.

Only for his fingers to hesitate on the door-knob.

Was he really ready for this? Could he go against sixteen years of ingrained behaviour and built-up bitterness?

He pushed open the tavern door. Well, he would never know unless he tried.

It looked about what he would have expected from a Dungeons and Dragons Tavern, men and women in armour were milling around and casting glances in his general direction before carrying on their business. Flamboyant mages in swishy robes, thieves in not an awful lot of clothing playing cardgames and juggling knives for amusement. Barbarians and warriors arm wrestling over barrels, teams with maps spread across tables and booths discussing plans and dungeon crawls.

He spotted his cousin almost immediately, it was hard to forget a face he had grown up seeing every day and occasionally have haunted his nightmares. It was also rather hard to miss the wings. Very few people chose the Bird Beastmen, the strength and endurance penalty was considered too steep a price to pay for the agility bonus.

Harry... Dudley couldn't stop himself from studying his cousin as he approached, that wild black hair was longer now, a little calmer with the extra weight, still not long enough to do anything but get in his eyes though. His face was the same, too soft to be considered handsome, too sharp to be called beautiful, but without that scar. Dudley had always secretly liked it, it was pretty cool all things considered. It wasn't until earlier that very year he learned just where it even came from, Mr Dodge had been entirely too enthusiastic in telling him everything that they never knew about Harry, making his parents alternatively terrified and furious, and Dudley guiltier than ever. Large emerald green eyes had already spotted him. No longer hidden behind awful glasses, Dudley was struck by the clear, almost unnatural shade of them.

It wasn’t until he got closer that he noticed something... unexpected.

He didn’t think Second Life allowed gender-swaps. Piers had made a complaint about it the last time they spoke; usually he liked playing female characters as it was easy to gouge free items and XP from male players on the Chinese servers. Not to mention that female characters tended to get extra help in character creation, more perks and such. Still, it wasn’t obvious, noticeable yeah, but not quite at the level of those ladies in his magazines, thankfully. It would have been creepy on so many levels.

_She_ was willowy, clad in leathers and mythril plate, it wasn’t good armour against bashing damage, but piercing and slashing it was pretty good and more importantly, it was light weight. Very light weight. He could even see Mythril chain on her wings. At her waist was a rather beaten up Chinese Dao, the leather hilt wrappings were fraying slightly and sweat stained. A brace of throwing knives was strapped across her chest and hips and a large Japanese cavalry spear was on her back – a bisento with a lacquered red handle.

Sat opposite, was a rather tall Dark Elf. He looked to be about Dudley’s height, maybe a little shorter – barely. He had classically Asian features, sharper and definitely one of those ‘Bishounen’ types he often heard girls gushing over. Typically Asian silky powder fine ice blue hair fell down his back, pulled out of the way in a high pony-tail with three thin braids framing the left side of his face. A face that was glaring at him with calculating flint blue-grey eyes. He was dressed in mid-to-heavy armour with an iron cuirass encircling his chest and curiously plated iron grieves running from ankle to knee. Resting blade down against the table beside him was a large green hilted Zanbato.

Hesitantly, he made his way over. “Is that you?” he asked warily. He was almost certain it was, no one in the world had eyes that shade, and the majority of weapons just screamed Harry and his survivor-type mentality.

The smile he received was an unknown, he had never seen his cousin look at anyone like that, and she kicked a chair out. “Yes. My game glitched when I was in character creation and, well, I have no way of contacting the company to complain so I’m a little stuck.” Yeah, that whole being on the run thing. Those people hunting him down and everyone he knew and loved in the hopes of trapping him. “It’s not so bad. The Players have caused me more problems than anything else,” she explained as he took a seat.

He nodded, admitting that she’d always had curious and strange effects on technology. It wasn’t hard to imagine something would mess up with the VR tech, still, given how it messed with someone’s mind, it could have been a hundred times worse. Maybe this said a little more about Harry’s mentality than it should have? His cousin, while not effeminate, was a lot less prone to the more... boyish antics that Dudley was familiar with. Perhaps it was because he had been forced into being a House Wife from an early age and denied anything like toy robots and other boy-stuff.

“When you didn’t PM me, I thought you may have thrown the game away,” Dudley admitted sheepishly. It wasn’t hard to imagine.

Harry shook his? Her head, “I will admit, I did forget about it in the... excitement, of leaving.”

Excitement? He couldn’t stop himself from grabbing his cousin’s hand, squeezing it tightly in sudden anxiousness. “How did that go?” he asked, trying to keep his tone light, eyes flicking to the Dark Elf who had yet to introduce himself, or stop scowling. He didn’t think this guy was one of Harry’s lot, but there was a chance, either way, it would be a good thing to be careful about what was said.

Harry’s mouth opened but the words seemed to get stuck. “George lost an ear,” she finally managed to say. “He was one of the twins you met back when we were fourteen. Fred, his brother, was the one who dropped the prank sweet you ate.” Prank sweet? THAT had been a prank? He almost suffocated on his own tongue! He shuddered in remembered fear and couldn’t stop himself from testing his tongue and jaw. It had been startling and terrifying when his tongue was suddenly too big for his mouth, when he could barely breathe, and then suddenly his mother and father were screaming, his cousin was grinning and laughing while the red haired man he’d seen make the living room half explode was raising a wand. “Moody...” the tone of Harry’s voice made Dudley’s blood go cold, someone had died. Suddenly, she was looking between the Dark Elf and him, “Here isn’t the best place.”

He realised he was still clutching his cousin’s hand and pulled back as if burned, mentally hitting himself for touching him when he knew, he _knew_ , Harry didn’t like to be touched. And how could Dudley blame him when all he had ever known from the Dursley Family’s hands was pain? He wouldn’t make that mistake again.

“Of course. I’m sorry,” he spluttered, trying to put as much distance as he could between them to try and get that tense line in his cousin’s shoulders to relax. It didn’t.

“Order food or whatever, I need to wash my face a second,” he muttered, getting to his feet and escaping into the bathroom. Damn, he’d scared him away.

“Her home-life was abusive, wasn’t it?” the Dark Elf suddenly burst out, the second the door to the bathroom had swung shut. Dudley’s muscles tensed almost _painfully_ as he whipped around. Those flint coloured eyes were intense and far too sharp and intelligent for him to even begin formulating a viable lie. “She hasn’t said anything, she rarely says _anything_ to be honest, but the way she moves, speaks, and glares at people is very telling. What happened? Given the way she was curling her arm around her food when you arrived I can assume she was starved for a time, and within your presence. She was very tense, and anxious about meeting you again, I must admit, It’s painting a very unfortunate picture in my mind’s eye about how – ”

“She was,” Dudley burst out, hanging his head, wanting to just close his ears. Of course Harry wouldn’t have said anything, he never did, he looked so surprised when that Merlin guy even mentioned that he had been abused. He had always tried to actively hide the fact. Embarrassed, that the people who should have been taking care of him were doing the opposite, as if it were somehow his fault. Which, he supposed, was how his parents raised Harry to think. “We grew up together. She’s only a few weeks or so younger than me, so we’ve been in all the same classes and schools. Her parents... Mum doesn’t like talking about them, she always told us they were drunks who died in a car accident.” Why was he talking? Why couldn’t he stop? This wasn’t any of his business! This was Harry’s private life, he shouldn’t be telling but... He couldn’t stop. He needed to say it. Needed to explain it. Either his family, himself, or maybe Harry. Was it for forgiveness? Absolution? Or... was he just fed up of lying to himself?

“But we found out when we were eleven that they were murdered when one of their friends tracked us down to talk to her about Private school. She was sent to live with us the next day. Mum complained about how she was taking the milk bottles out and found her on the doorstep with nothing more than a letter. But we took her in. I still think she would have been happier in an orphanage after everything but... Mum was scared.” She had always been scared. “She had always been scared of them. Her sister married a bad sort, at least that’s what she said. That’s why they got killed.” Magic Folk weren’t a bad sort. He had learned that the hard way. Their world was just different and harder to understand, the dangers were _more_ and they had evolved to handle that so their bodies and abilities made them less concerned with the regular dangers people like him faced. And they looked down on the rest of them for it, some of them, and his mother had the misfortune of growing up near once such person, or so she finally managed to explain to him, her expression twisted into grim lines of anger and fear.

“How was she mistreated?” the Elf pressed.

Dudley sighed, staring down at his armoured fingers. “She lived in the cupboard under the stairs, even though I had two bedrooms.” There was also the spare room that they kept nice for Aunt Marge. That was four bedrooms in one house, and they refused to even give her one when there were two almost always empty. “Mum made her do all the chores, gardening, cooking, cleaning, the lot, and barely ever fed her. Dad just shouted and snarled. He... he hit her once or twice, never hard. I don’t think he even liked the idea of touching her.” Thankfully. Dudley didn’t think he could even _look_ his father in the eye without wanting to punch him right now, if he knew that he had been... the police would have to arrest him and collect his father in a body bag. “He would always scrub his hands if he did. I... I was spoilt so much I’m lucky I’m not a sociopath right now.” He rubbed his fingers, remembering a time when they were smaller and thicker, when they trembled in terror that he didn’t fully understand. “She saved my life. Back when we were fifteen. We were attacked and I panicked, I freaked out and couldn’t do anything. She got rid of them and dragged my ungrateful ass back home. I blamed her and my parents tried to throw her out. It didn’t happen. Mum managed to talk Dad down from it but still...”

How could Harry even face him after everything he had done to his cousin? All that he and his family had put him through?

A flash of silver caught his eyes as the Dark Elf placed a dagger very noticeably on the table in front of him, blade pointed in his direction. There was a _very_ dark promise in the other man’s eyes, one that made the hairs on Dudley’s arms stand on end and his stomach twist and curl in a thrill of fearful anticipation.

“Hedwig, for reasons I cannot fathom yet, seems to want to give you a second chance,” the Elf stated coldly. “But you’re only getting one. Betray her, hurt her, even look at her wrong, and I will Corpse Camp you to level one, hack your software, and _melt_ your brain. Am I understood?” he hissed, standing up and looming into the seventeen year old’s face, eyes boring into his face.

He nodded slowly, “Crystal.”

 

* * *

 

Having the human warrior join them left a vile taste in Tien’s mouth as they made their way through the forest, and his ill temper showed in the viciousness of his attacks. Hedwig was even quieter than usual and somehow, _somehow_ managed to disappear with regular frequency to scout on ahead. Whatever technique she was using, was clearly better suited to Thieves or Ninja. Or rather, she was better suited to Ninja or Thief. Almost as much as she was suited to being a Mage.

Tien could only sigh as he watched her disappear into the bushes once again.

“Are all Caucasian women this independent?” he asked helplessly, forgetting for a moment that he was both very angry with Broken Fist and his family, and that he hated him as he looked helplessly at the blond.

The warrior nodded, “Ha-Hedwig’s always been independent. Reading and writing before me, walking before me, the only thing I did first was talk. I... –”

**[ WOLF KING HAS SUCCESSFULLY ATTACKED WHITE HEDWIG, WHITE HEDWIG HP -100, 1381 / 1481 ]**

“SHIT!” Fist swore, the two of them whipping around and racing to where their Teammate was fighting.

**[CRITICAL HIT SUCCESSFUL, WOLF KING –600 HP. CRITICAL HIT SUCCESSFUL, WOLF KING –600 HP. CRITICAL HIT SUCCESSFUL, WOLF KING –600 HP. ]**

The two warriors came rushing into the clearing in time to see the mountainous white creature drop, hitting the ground with a thunderous crash; throat, groin, and armpits slit open and fountaining blood.

**[ SYSTEM NOTICE: WHITE HEDWIG HAS KILLED WOLF KING. ]**

They stared as she landed, spinning her bisento, flicking blood from the blade. Apart from a bloody tear on her leg, she was unharmed. The Wolf King hadn’t been able to do anything but get that first attack in before she seemingly lashed out, and tore it apart.

“A boss... on her own,” Dudley murmured his eyes wide. He had half expected his cousin to be weak, but clearly that was not the case!

Stowing her bisento, the dark haired girl scooped up her spoils and glanced over her shoulder at them arching an eyebrow, “What?”

Tien sighed, “Don’t run off like that. The next time you encounter a Boss, they may not be quite so low levelled,” he scolded, frowning as he dug into his bag and threw a potion her way.

She sniffed, snatching it out of mid-air with reflexes that still made Dudley whistle in admiration, “The system tells you when I’m under attack,” she pointed out, tearing the cork out with her teeth and necking the potion.

“Not the point. You could get hurt,” Tien stated stubbornly.

Hedwig eyed him briefly before throwing the glass bottle at his head; unfortunately, Harry’s throwing skill was nowhere near as good as his catching skill when it came to objects that weren’t streamlined, such as knives. The throw went wide and shattered against the tree behind Tien who merely raised an eyebrow.

“Pain isn’t something that concerns me,” she stated flatly, patting her leg briefly to check it was fully healed before making her way off again.

The Dark Elf pinched the bridge of his nose, “Has she _always_ been like this?” he demanded, looking at Dudley in a mixture of annoyance and concern.

He shook his head, “Mostly it was just snark and sarcasm. She’s pretty witty to be honest. But... the last few years have been wearing on her.” He closed his mouth and the look on his face clearly stated that no more on the matter would be said. It was making Tien very nervous and angry. He wanted to get to the bottom of this but neither party were letting him! They were teasing him with bits and bobs of the truth and then pulling back while telling him there was more but refusing to elaborate on just what it was!!

“Um, Tien?” The Dark Elf jolted, turning rapidly to the Owl Beastwoman as she appeared beside him, a queer look on her face, “I, uh...” She made a helpless kind of face and outstretched her hands.

Cradled within her palms was a tiny pure white wolf cub, blinking up at him with liquid amber eyes.

“What...?” he stared at the tiny creature.

Hedwig shrugged, pulling it back against her chest when it began to wriggle, it stopped almost immediately and began to paw at her fingers, licking them. “The Wolf King dropped an egg. I thought it was some kind of restorative item so I picked it up. The thing hatched and now the system keeps telling me to give it a name. What is going on?” she asked, having to adjust her hold as the wolf cub almost squirmed free.

Fist chuckled, appearing beside her, “The game has a pet function too. Basically, you donate a little blood to an unhatched egg and you get a pet. They’re level one to begin with but as they get stronger they learn attacks and such and can help you in battle. They’re pretty useful critters.”

Hedwig groaned, “My hands were bloody when I picked it up. Does that make this scrap of fuzz mine?” she asked, idly pulling her thumb out of the animal’s mouth as it tried to use it for a chew toy.

“Yup. Your blood, your pet. What’re you going to name him?” Fist asked, reaching out and rubbing the unusually small cub’s ears.

“Romulus,” she decided, “Romy for short.”

Tien chuckled, “After the Roman story?” he asked as the system flashed up confirming the registration.

She smiled, “A little. My favourite teacher at school was called Remus, he helped me a lot when no one else would,” she explained rubbing the wolf’s head. “He had health complications and had to leave at the end of the year, I haven’t seen him much since. He was one of my Dad’s friends at school.”

Tien sighed staring at the little white wolf, “Well... not quite the grand battle animal just yet, we should head back to the beginner areas to level the little guy up before heading somewhere else. He can only gain experience if he takes part in a battle.” There was a pause, “Is it even a he?” the Elf asked, frowning.

“Er,” Hedwig muttered, not quite so intelligently.

**[ PET OWNER: White Hedwig | PET NAME: Romulus | LEVEL: 1 | HEALTH: 30 | MANA: 10 | UNSPENT SKILL POINTS: 0 | STRENGTH: 5 | PHYSIQUE: 3 | AGILITY: 15 | INTELLIGENCE: 4 | WILL POWER: 5 | WISDOM: 3 ]**

“It doesn’t say,” she admitted in surprise.

“We’ll find out later. Pets don’t get assigned genders until Level forty; it prevents breeding rings from popping up. They develop the ability to speak at roughly level thirty and by thirty five they can understand complicated subjects. Level forty they gain the ability to even disobey their owners if their loyalty stat isn’t good enough,” Dudley explained, being surprisingly knowledgeable on the subject.

Hedwig nodded and opened her hip-pouch, gently setting the wolf cub in there, leaving him to peer out with a wide grin, and a lolling tongue as he peered around the world with large yellow eyes.

“We’ll find out later.”

 


End file.
